Tag: kidswear

What if you could make children’s clothes for the purpose of handing them down across generations?

Sew Laurel Lee‘s work embodies this idea precisely. A New Zealand based fashion designer, Lee repurposes secondhand textiles into beautiful and timeless outfits for kids. Recently, she partnered with Kimono Kollab, a Singaporean reuse project, to repurpose vintage kimonos into adorable one-of-a-kind dress ensembles. Though clothes like this tend to have a fleeting wearability by one single human in childhood, its appeal is in the concept itself. Such upcycling in the fashion industry has already come into focus as an innovative way to create consciously and reduce waste, but for children’s clothes specifically the idea remains under-explored. Until this past decade, there have been fears surrounding fashion-izing children and what they wear but that was only a projection of adult insecurities about their kids’ futures. Just look at Japanese Coco Princess! Clothes don’t have to be gender specific to help kids feel great about themselves but it helps when they are unique. That’s where upcycling vintage bedding, clothes, homewares, costume and other decorative fabrics can swoop in and impress.

Just imagine cute little overcoats made from 1970s upholstery material. Or bucket hats reconstructed from 1980s marine themed bedding? Old school patterned pillowcases could easily become tops while antique tablecloth can be sculpted into high functioning tween overalls. The possibilities are endless.

If you’re looking to infuse character to the youths in your family while acquiring wearables consciously, Laurel Lee is available for custom orders through her site. Find her at http://www.sewlaurellee.com.